A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a flat bed scanner which incorporates removable digital storage media such as a floppy disk, disk drive or similar portable data storage media; a battery power supply; a central processing unit; a pivotal handle; an automatic document feed capability; and/or capability to output directly to a printer and/or to a television screen.
B. Related Application
This Application is related to and incorporates by reference all of the subject matter set forth in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,413, issued May 25, 1999 entitled xe2x80x9cContact Image Sensor Flatbed Scannerxe2x80x9d.
C. Description of the Prior Art
Stand alone, flatbed scanners and portable, hand-held scanners are known. Also, use of a removable digital data storage device, such as a floppy disk, in conjunction with a digital camera is known, such as found in the Sony brand, Mavica digital camera. However, it is not known to include a central processing unit, removable storage media, portable capability, automatic document feed capability and/or the other stand alone features that are described herein as incorporated in a flatbed scanner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a scanner that incorporates a removable digital data storage media.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stand alone, scanner incorporating a 3.5 inch floppy diskette as a removable digital data storage medium.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a reflective/transmissive scanner incorporating a removable digital data storage media.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a portable, hand-held scanner incorporating a removable digital data storage media such as a 3.5 inch floppy diskette.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a CCD or CIS scanner having as an option, a removable digital data storage media such as a 3.5 inch floppy diskette, a Zip-Drive, CD Rom, or the equivalent.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a flat bed scanner including a central processing unit for controlling scanning functions, and to provide the capability of output directly to a printer, to a television monitor or to a computer network.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stand alone flat bed scanner having an internal power supply, such as a rechargeable battery.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stand alone scanner having a handle for portable use.
With reference to the above-described objects, the present invention provides a scanner of the type used as a stand-alone computer peripheral, but in combination with a removable digital data storage medium such as a 3.5 inch floppy diskette, a Zip-Drive(copyright), or the equivalent portable data storage medium. Incorporation of a portable digital data storage medium directly in the scanner eliminates the need to have a computer operatively connected to the scanner during the scanning process, i.e., conversion of an object image into digital data signals. With the present invention, an object image may be converted into digital data, stored in the portable memory media, and the portable memory may be removed from the scanner, to be used subsequently and in digital processing equipment not operatively connected to the scanner which obtained the image.
The present invention also provides a stand alone scanner that may include a central processing unit, and software adapted to control the scanning, editing, input and output functions related to the scanning process. The stand alone scanner alternate embodiments of the present invention include not only removable digital data storage media, but also provide for output of the digital data directly to a printer, directly to a television screen and/or directly to a computer network. In one embodiment of the present invention, a built-in power supply and a carrying handle are provided so that the stand-alone scanner may be easily carried and be used in environments where no external power supply is available. The stand-alone embodiments of the present invention may use CPUs of different capacity, with more advanced functions being available using higher level CPUs, and having greater memory capacity.